Finish plotting earthquakes on world map to record patterns of the earthquakes, mountains and other geological features
Show how the layers of the earth with the continental and oceanic crust relate to plate movements.
Define what a plate is, and explain plate tectonics
Time- (85 mins)
40 minutes
Ø Class will open with a quick review of what they learned last class.
Ø Then students transition to using the laptops and go back to the geological survey site to plot the earthquakes around the world for day 2.
Ø Next students will make observations and record them in their notebooks. Some observations maybe, many earthquakes are near one another or earthquakes are found around mountain ranges, and volcanoes.
Ø Then they will be asked to make a hypothesis about their observations and what they learned yesterday. The goal is for them to connect their observation to plate tectonics. A possible hypothesis is; the Earth’s plates are colliding in these areas, or this is where the plate boundaries are.
45 minutes
Ø The class will be given a short article about plate tectonics to read, with a visual diagram of the layers of the earth, continental and oceanic plates labeled. Once the material is handed out directions will be read out loud so everyone understand the assignment. The students will read the article individually (good reading behavior, highlighting, under lining and reading the guiding questions first, will be modeled.)
Ø As the students are reading I will circulate and check the to make sure all the students wrote down a hypothesis, this will be checked for class participation.
Ø Then in pairs the students can answer the guiding question together.
Describe Plate Tectonics.
Explain what a plate is.
What was your hypothesis and was it correct? Explain.
What can occur at plate boundaries?
From the information in the article compare and contrast continental and oceanic plates?
How fast do plates move? Explain in your own words.
Do plate tectonics affect you in your daily life? Explain why or why not.
How do you think plates can move in relationship to each other? The last question is not fully answered in the article they read. This question is designed to get the students to think about plate movements to prepare them for the next lesson. The last ten minutes the class will go over their answers and for homework they will have to try to come up with some answers to question 8.
Assignment Complete guiding question 8 from class. Be prepared for next class.
Activity Materials
Lab tops
Resources for lesson
Teacher made Handout with Guiding Questions (See below graphics won't copy, but there would be a diagram of the layers of the earth
World Map
Name_ Date
Plate Tectonics Directions- 1. Read the Guiding Questions.
Read the article and highlight or underline the important information
In partners answer the guiding questions
What you don’t complete is for homework, Question 8 is to prepare you for next class
The Earth's rocky outer crust solidified billions of years ago, soon after the Earth formed. This crust is not a solid shell; it is broken up into huge, thick plates that drift atop the soft, underlying mantle. Plate tectonics is a theory of geology that has been developed over time to explain the slow drift observed in the earth’s lithosphere. The lithosphere is part of the earth’s crust. The plates move very slowly about .1-10 centimeters per year, which is about the speed that your fingernails grow. The plates are made of rock and they move both horizontally and vertically. Because of different types of movement in the earth’s plates, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes are very common at plate boundaries. There are two types of plates, oceanic and continental. The earth’s solid surface is about 40 percent continental crust. Continental crust is much older, thicker and less dense than oceanic crust. The thinnest continental crust, between plates that are moving apart, is about 15 km (about 9 mi) thick. In other places, such as mountain ranges, the crust may be as much as 75 km (47 mi) thick. Near the surface, it is composed of rocks that are felsic (made up of minerals including feldspar and silica). Deeper in the continental crust, the composition is mafic (made of magnesium, iron, and other minerals). Oceanic crust makes up the other 60 percent of the earth’s solid surface. Oceanic crust is, in general, thin and dense. It is constantly being produced at the bottom of the oceans in places called mid-ocean ridges—undersea volcanic mountain chains formed at plate boundaries where there is a build-up of ocean crust. This production of crust does not increase the physical size of the earth, so the material produced at mid-ocean ridges must be recycled, or consumed, somewhere else. Oceanic crust is continually recycled so that its age is generally not greater than 200 million years. Oceanic crust averages between 5 and 10 km (between 3 and 6 mi) thick..
.Guiding Questions:
1. Describe Plate Tectonics.
2. Explain what a plate is.
3. What was your hypothesis was it correct? Explain
4. What can occur at plate boundaries?
5. From the information in the article compare and contrast continental and oceanic plates?
6. How fast do plates move? Explain in your own words
7. Do plate tectonics affect you in your daily life? Explain why or why not?
8. How do you think plates can move in relationship to each other?
Instructional objectives:
Time- (85 mins)
40 minutes
Ø Class will open with a quick review of what they learned last class.
Ø Then students transition to using the laptops and go back to the geological survey site to plot the earthquakes around the world for day 2.
Ø Next students will make observations and record them in their notebooks. Some observations maybe, many earthquakes are near one another or earthquakes are found around mountain ranges, and volcanoes.
Ø Then they will be asked to make a hypothesis about their observations and what they learned yesterday. The goal is for them to connect their observation to plate tectonics. A possible hypothesis is; the Earth’s plates are colliding in these areas, or this is where the plate boundaries are.
45 minutes
Ø The class will be given a short article about plate tectonics to read, with a visual diagram of the layers of the earth, continental and oceanic plates labeled. Once the material is handed out directions will be read out loud so everyone understand the assignment. The students will read the article individually (good reading behavior, highlighting, under lining and reading the guiding questions first, will be modeled.)
Ø As the students are reading I will circulate and check the to make sure all the students wrote down a hypothesis, this will be checked for class participation.
Ø Then in pairs the students can answer the guiding question together.
Assignment Complete guiding question 8 from class. Be prepared for next class.
Activity Materials
Lab tops
Resources for lesson
Name_ Date
Plate Tectonics
Directions-
1. Read the Guiding Questions.
The Earth's rocky outer crust solidified billions of years ago, soon after the Earth formed. This crust is not a solid shell; it is broken up into huge, thick plates that drift atop the soft, underlying mantle. Plate tectonics is a theory of geology that has been developed over time to explain the slow drift observed in the earth’s lithosphere. The lithosphere is part of the earth’s crust. The plates move very slowly about .1-10 centimeters per year, which is about the speed that your fingernails grow. The plates are made of rock and they move both horizontally and vertically. Because of different types of movement in the earth’s plates, mountains, volcanoes and earthquakes are very common at plate boundaries. There are two types of plates, oceanic and continental.
The earth’s solid surface is about 40 percent continental crust. Continental crust is much older, thicker and less dense than oceanic crust. The thinnest continental crust, between plates that are moving apart, is about 15 km (about 9 mi) thick. In other places, such as mountain ranges, the crust may be as much as 75 km (47 mi) thick. Near the surface, it is composed of rocks that are felsic (made up of minerals including feldspar and silica). Deeper in the continental crust, the composition is mafic (made of magnesium, iron, and other minerals).
Oceanic crust makes up the other 60 percent of the earth’s solid surface. Oceanic crust is, in general, thin and dense. It is constantly being produced at the bottom of the oceans in places called mid-ocean ridges—undersea volcanic mountain chains formed at plate boundaries where there is a build-up of ocean crust. This production of crust does not increase the physical size of the earth, so the material produced at mid-ocean ridges must be recycled, or consumed, somewhere else. Oceanic crust is continually recycled so that its age is generally not greater than 200 million years. Oceanic crust averages between 5 and 10 km (between 3 and 6 mi) thick..
.Guiding Questions:
1. Describe Plate Tectonics.
2. Explain what a plate is.
3. What was your hypothesis was it correct? Explain
4. What can occur at plate boundaries?
5. From the information in the article compare and contrast continental and oceanic plates?
6. How fast do plates move? Explain in your own words
7. Do plate tectonics affect you in your daily life? Explain why or why not?
8. How do you think plates can move in relationship to each other?